


Scared Of The Dark

by kiefercarlos



Series: Criminal Minds Crack Shots [5]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Dreams and Nightmares, Friendship, Gen, Nightmares, Nyctophobia, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:34:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24054484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiefercarlos/pseuds/kiefercarlos
Summary: ONE-SHOT:When Spencer loses power in his apartment he ends up staying with Emily. He's scared to tell her about his fear, but she'll find out soon enough
Relationships: Emily Prentiss & Spencer Reid
Series: Criminal Minds Crack Shots [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/889146
Kudos: 46





	Scared Of The Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to NinaJoFoster for the upgrade to this story. It became far superior after she helped out.

This case had been a hard one, they had spent a week hunting for a seriel killer who had been kidnapping to lure in the parents and then kill them, but then letting the kids go. It was a strange one and a difficult one and Spencer had hated seeing it all happening. At the end of the day, they had caught the guy and saved the mom, but they hadn't made it in time to save the father.

Now they were flying home and everyone was trying to wind down from a very intense case. Spencer was reading book, to keep him awake, knowing not to fall asleep after a case like that. Hotch was keeping himself up by going through cases that they could take once they've all had a break from this case. JJ and Morgan had both managed to get some sleep and across the plan Rossi and Emily were playing some poker with peanuts as currency. After a few hours the jet finally landed and everyone disembarked and headed for their cars.

After getting to his car, Spencer turned his phone on. He'd missed a call from his landlord and he checked the message and found out the electricity in his building was out. "Damn!" He checked the car park to see if there was any of the team still left. There was only Emily and Hotch left, chatting by Emily's car. Maybe he could crash with one of them. But should he ask? How would that make him look? Would they think he couldn't look after himself. The team treated him like a kid already, this could make it worse. He didn't notice how long he'd been debating the idea until he heard a roar of a car engine and watched Hotch pull away, meaning Emily was his only option now.

He climbed out of his car and called out to her. She paused and turned to watch him approach. "Hey, um…" He paused a moment and then took a breath. "Could I ask a huge favour? I need somewhere to stay tonight. I've just heard off my landlord and the powers out in my building and I don't want to have to go to a motel for the night, after that last case." Spencer gushed out and Emily waited until he paused for breath to smile at him.

"Of course you can stay with me. Just follow me back, you know where I live right?" She asked and Spencer nodded and he went back to his car, feeling a little lighter, knowing he had a safe space for the night. His only concern was how he would keep his fear from rearing its head when he was there.

Soon enough he was pulling his car in being Emily's outside her building and they both got out of their cars. Spencer follows Emily up to her apartment and she locks up behind him. "Let me take your coat." She says and he shrugs his jacket off and passes it over as she hangs it up in the closet next to her own.

"Come on, I'll put some coffee on." She suggests as she leaves her bag by the door and slips through to the kitchen, Spencer doing the same. He's just about to sit down when he jumps as something brushes his legs.

Emily chuckles at his reaction as he glances down to the see the cat intertwining between his legs. "That's Sergio, don't mind him, he's harmless." Emily laughs a she preps the two cups of coffee. Spencer waits for the cat to wander away before he takes a seat at the counter and glancing around the room as he waits. It was a nicely decorated place he noted, it wasn't too full of stuff like his own, but it wasn't bare, there were little splashes of Emily's personality around the place.

A cup was placed down in front of him, pulling him out of his musings. "Thanks." He says smiling at Emily as she drops onto the seat next to him. She lets a long sigh as she stretches out her shoulders.

"I'm so glad to be back home." She mumbles and Spence smiles into his mug. "Sorry that you're not able to be in your place tonight." She says as she glances at him.

Spencer just shrugs, not that bothered by it to be honest. It was an inconvenience, but it wasn't a major disruption. "It's okay. I could have stayed there, but with no power due to the flooding on the floor below it was just too much of a problem, that I didn't need to deal with. Plus it would be really nice to take a nice long shower, to wash away the last couple of days." He states and Emily nods her head in understanding, having the same thought. "A study conducted by travelmath found that four and five-star hotels actually packed significantly more bacteria than their lower star counterparts. So thanks for not making me stay in one of those" he explained and Emily just smiled at him.

"No problem. You're probably the best room-mate I'll ever have." She says as she finishes her cup and gets up to wash it as Sergio wanders back into the room and Emily fusses over him as he curls around her shoulders and she rolls her eyes at Spencer and he can't help but grin.

"I'm going to go put my bag away and check the spare rooms set up." Emily states as leaves the room, patting Spencer on the back on her way out, leaving him to sit with his coffee for a few minutes.

He sighs as she slowly drinks the last of his coffee, as he tries to push the case out of his mind, knowing it's going to take a few days to get over it completely. He's pulled out of his thought when a hand drops onto his shoulder and he jumps. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Emily says apologetically, as Spencer comes back to his senses and sees her standing next to him, Sergio having been removed to sit on the floor.

"I'm fine, I just got lost in thought for a minute." Spencer says reassuringly.

She takes his now empty cup and goes to place it in the sink, planning on coming back to clean it up later.

"Come on, I'll show you to your room, you must be dying to get a shower and then get to bed. I know I am." She states and Spencer gets to his feet and follow her, the tiredness, definitely starting to take its toll on him now that he'd stopped working. "I really am. I always have to shower before I go to bed. It's like I'm washing the case off you know." He says as he picks up his bag and follows Emily down the hall towards the spare room.

Emily nods in understand. "Yeah I can understand that." She says as she pushes the door to the room open. "You're room for the night. The bathroom's across the hall, don't worry about using all the hot water, we don't have that problem here. Anything else you need, just let me know. I'm going to fuss over Sergio for a little while, so I'll be up for a little bit longer."

"Thanks for all thi Em, I didn't know what I was going to do if you had said no to me." Spencer tells her with a grateful look. "Not a problem, I swear. It's to have someone else around, it gets lonely with only me and Sergio." She says with a smile and pats his arm comfortingly and then wanders away from the room, heading back towards the kitchen.

Once shes gone, Spencer drops the bag and sits down on the bed for a minute, letting the last week catch up to him. He gives himself a minute before gathering his stuff and heading to the bathroom. He climbs into the shower and scrubs the last week from his body before getting out and drying off, before heading back to his room for the night. He can hear Emily still puttering about the apartment but he's ready to drop, so he leaves the bedroom door open, with the light from the hallway illuminating the room and Spencer falls asleep almost as soon as his head hits the pillow.

"Spencer!, Spencer, wake up!" He wakes with a star, fear coursing through his body and it takes him a few moments, to realise, that he's not at him and he's definitely not alone. He can only hear his own heart thumping in his ears, but he can someone's hands holding onto him and it takes him another couple of minute to calm down enough to actually hear what Emily was saying to him and it was all soft comforting words.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" He asked nervously as he got himself under control and suddenly felt very embarrassed by the event. "No, I was up getting a drink, when I heard you thrashing around." She lies and Spencer knows she's lying but he appreciates her effort to be gentle. Neither say anything for a minute.

"You okay?" She asked and Spencer just nods silently. He knows he doesn't want to go into his fear not here, not now.

"I'll be fine. I just have trouble sleeping in the dark." He admits weakly after a couple of minutes of silence between them. he doesn't know why he tells Emily this, and when she doesn't immediately reply he hangs his head in embarrassment. "It's stupid isn't it." he mumbles and he's surprised when Emily puts her arm around him.

"No, it's not." She states softly. "If you the smartest person I know by far, are afraid of the dark, then I'm not going to argue with you. There's probably a valid reason behind it, and I'm not going to question you on it." She replies and Spencer just nods his head and watches as Sergio wanders into the room and jumps up onto the bed and settles at Spencer's side and he reaches over to pet the cat.

"You should try and get back to sleep okay." Emily comments and Spencer to his surprise just nods his head in agreement and settles back into the bed. Emily doesn't move as she carefully runs her hand through his hair. "I'll stay until you fall asleep okay? I'm sorry I knocked the light off earlier. I would have kept it on, if I'd known." She says as she watches Spencer drifting off the sleep.

"Thanks Em." He yawns and withing a couple of minutes he's sleeping again and Emily can't help but to watch him for a moment and smile, running her hand though his hair one more time. She doesn't go back to her own bed for a few hours, liking to think that Spencer slept better with her there.

The next morning a few hours after Emily had finally gone back to bed, she wakes up and goes to make the coffee for them both. She's not in the kitchen long when she hears her phone go off. She goes to grab hers as she hears Spencer's phone ringing too. She grabs hers from where it was charing next to her bed and goes to stand in the doorway of the spare room, where Spencer was now sitting up rubbing his eyes as he looks at his phone. "Good morning." She says as she stands there for a minute and watches. He lifts his head and looks at her tiredly. "Morning. Thanks for letting me stay here last night. Have you seen?" He asks pointing his phone towards her.

She nods her head, the message had been a call into work. They were told that they'd have another couple of days off after the case, but sometimes they don't get what they want. "We get one night in our own beds and then we get pulled away again." Emily says with fake disdain and Spencer smiles.

"Speak for yourself. I didn't get to sleep in my own bed." He laughs as he sits up and Emily smiles at him.

"I'm going to jump in the shower and get ready. There's coffee in the kitchen for you." She says over her shoulder as she pushes off the doorframe and heads towards the bathroom.

"Thank you." He calls as he gets himself up and ready. He heads to the kitchen and grabs his coffee.

Once Emily is ready to go they decide that they'll head to the office in one vehicle, since they'll either be travelling or he'll be able to come back and pick up his car if not.

"Thanks for being so calm about my phobia last night. It's embarrassing and I hate it when something happens." He says after a couple of minutes on the road. "Spencer I told you last night, I don't care about the fear. I don't think any less of you. It might not be the most common fear-"

Spencer interrupts, "actually, according to clinical psychologist John Mayer, having a fear of the dark is very common among adults. It's estimated that 11 percent of the U.S population is afraid of the dark, he notes that it's even more common than a fear of heights, but most people won't admit it allowed." Spencer finishes and shrugs. "I just find it so childish, even though I never had the fear as a child. You won't say anything to the others, will you?" He asks, eyeing Emily nervously.

"Spencer you just explained to me how it's the most common fear amongst adults, there's nothing childish about it. And of course I'm not going to say anything, I wouldn't do something like that." Emily tells him and she can see him relax in his seat. They arrive at Quantico and climb out of the car, grabbing their bags. "Hey Spence, you're welcome to stay with me anytime you need." Emily states as they get into the elevator, taking them up to the bullpen.

The next time Spencer ended up staying at her place, there was a small bedside lamp sitting there and he had to smile. He was so grateful that she thought of him, that he knocked it on and went to bed falling asleep with a smile on his face.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoyed.  
> Comment and Kudos to let us know you loved it.


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